Barefoot Technologies Blog- Vacation Rental Industry News

As winter begins to fade it becomes more important than ever to capitalize on your winter season guests. These guests can vary dramatically based on your market but one thing is the same, the main season is ending and your guest are beginning to shift from those coming to stay for the peak season to those who are looking for a shoulder season getaway.

Well it’s the time of year up here in New England where rumors of snow are backed up by frigid mornings and mildly warmer days, most call it winter but I am lucky enough to call it hockey season. Now some may not see the difference between a winter enthusiast and a hockey fan but differences like this can distinguish your business from the rest. With the winter coming in, the rental market shifts drastically up here, and in any location with winter snow. So how does this resonate through with your business? Here are 8 ways to beat the winter with simple marketing tools

In short, yes, but let me elaborate. Last week the Barefoot team travelled to the VRMA conference in Nashville TN. Aside from some great music, awesome food, and southern charm, there were some great things to be learned at the conference. Douglas Quinby, the VP of research at PhoCusWright gave an eye opening speech at the close of the show. If you left early you missed out but I will do my best to shed some light here as to why your website may ruin your business.

Today, through our webpage, a contact us form was filled out and submitted to us. The main resonating message of this e-mail was simple, I am looking to grow but simply cannot do any more work! As I spoke to this prospect, her issues resonated with me as mere wants of other prospects and clients. Things that were "nice" and "neat" or that "Jane from reservations would love" seem to get looked over all too often by those not aware of what a few process could do for their business.

Communication is becoming more and more key in today’s vacation rental marketplace. Companies like Glad to Have You and others provide tools for the traveler to make their experience as easy as possible. The vacation experience is one of information regarding the reservation, areas of interest, restaurants, activities, etc. and there is more and more competition than ever. Companies like Home Away are making it easier and easier for the owner of a property or condo to utilize a complete vacation rental system with online booking, credit cards, travel insurance, and they are moving towards providing these owners with names of people that can clean and maintain their home. Timeshare units are beginning to get into this mix also, with Home Away recently signing an agreement to work with a timeshare resort in Orlando that will bring over 9,000 time share properties into their inventory. For the professional property manager, that means lower income, and higher vacancy.

Does your company utilize a portal partnership? With lead and subscription based portals speed is the name of the game and every second counts. When an interested party sends an information request about a property through one of these portals, you as an agent must receive the e-mail, check availability, confirm price, and then reply to the prospect. Auto OTA letters simplifies all of this.